Many security systems include multiple video cameras, motion detectors, heat sensors, as well as various door and window traps that have been placed in a building structure by a security company or security system vendor. Such a building structure may include, but is in no way limited to, houses, apartment buildings, hotels, office buildings, and stores. The video cameras, motion detectors, heat sensors, and door and window traps, which may be referred to generally as “security equipment”, may be monitored by personnel of the security company who are located at a central station.
That is, as shown in the example of FIG. 4, a security system may include security equipment 405, shown generically, which may include video cameras, motion detectors, heat sensors and door and window traps that are disposed throughout a building structure 400, which may include either of a residence or a place of business. The present description will refer to a residence, though there are very minor differences, if any, between a security system for a residence and any of the other exemplary building structures mentioned above, and therefore the terms may be used interchangeably for the purposes of the present invention.
In the residence 400 of FIG. 4, the security equipment 405 is connected, via a telecommunications network 415, to a central station 420 of the security system provider where security system personnel 425 monitor the individual residential security systems.
Thus, if a security breach is detected, such as a break-in, burglary or fire, in addition to triggering a local alarm to alert the occupants of the security breach, the security equipment 405 transmits an alarm signal to the security system central station 420 via the telecommunications network 415. The detection signal that is received by the security system central station 420, and that is monitored by the security company personnel 425, includes an indication of whether the security breach is a break-in or fire. Further, in the event of a break-in, the detection signal may further indicate the “zone” in which the break-in has occurred. That is, the detection signal may indicate in which room or location the break-in has occurred, and may even further indicate which door or window has been detected as being breached.
At the security system central station 420, the monitoring personnel 425 may then begin a verification protocol, which may include calling a telephone line 410 at the residence 400 from which the alarm originated. This “call-back” enables the occupant to provide a predetermined personal security code, thereby assisting the security monitoring personnel 425 in determining whether an actual security breach has occurred or whether the security equipment has triggered a false alarm. In the event of a false alarm, then the security breach alarm received at the security system central station 420 is disregarded.
In the event that there is no answer at the residence from which the alarm originated, or an incorrect security code is provided in response to the call back, the security system monitoring personnel 425 may then dispatch the local authorities, or emergency services EMS 430, relative to the geographic location of the residence from which the alarm originated, and then continue the verification protocol. That is, in the event that the received detection signal indicates a break-in, the security system monitoring personnel 425 will dispatch the police department for the jurisdiction of the residence from which the alarm originated, and in the event that the received detection signal indicates a fire, the security monitoring personnel will dispatch the fire department for the jurisdiction of the residence from which the alarm originated. The verification protocol continues whereby the security monitoring personnel continue attempts to reach the owner of the residence by calling a sequence of telephone numbers that have been predetermined. The predetermined sequence of telephone numbers may include in no set order, but in no way limited to, the owner's cell phone, place of business, or even a friend or relative's phone number. The security company monitoring personnel will exhaust the telephone numbers in the predetermined sequence, even though the authorities have already been dispatched.
However, due to a variety of reasons, including the intense pressure that may accompany the job, security system monitoring personnel often forego the verification protocol and proceed immediately to dispatching the local authorities, including either the local police department or fire department. As a result, police and firefighting personnel have been dispatched in response to false alarms, thus squandering civic resources and needlessly placing citizens in peril who are in actual need of such services. There is even a further cost, whereby actual emergency situations may go unattended if emergency services have been previously dispatched to a false alarm that has not been properly canceled. The increase in false alarms incurs a financial cost to both the residential owner who must pay a civil penalty for false alarms over a predetermined threshold (three, for example) within a one-year period and to taxpayers in general who bear the burden of mis-allocated resources.
Further aggravating the situation, often times the monitoring security service personnel dispatch the improper authorities, whereby police have been dispatched for a fire emergency or a local fire department dispatched for a police emergency. Further still, many instances have occurred in which police or firefighting personnel from the wrong jurisdiction have been dispatched, thus compromising the response time to an actually emergency situation.
At least as far as the security companies, or security service vendors, are concerned, many dissatisfied customers respond to the exemplary shortcomings described above by canceling their residential security services or by switching their residential security provider.